During the 40-plus years when our family lived in rural Colrain, we never heard the sound of gas-powered leaf blowers. Now that we live in a more tightly packed neighborhood in Shelburne Falls, these super-loud devices are on our minds — and blasting our ears — every week.

If you missed it, please go back and read Johanna Neumann’s excellent column in the Nov. 17 Recorder, “Switching to electric for lawn care a power move.” To supplement what she wrote, here’s some additional information I’ve discovered about these obnoxious machines.

In an early 2023 essay, Professor Mark Nevitt, who teaches law at the Emory University School of Law in Atlanta, wrote:

“Consider what happens every fall in my new hometown of Atlanta. It is a time of crisp days, stunning foliage, and cool nights. Sadly, Atlanta’s autumn beauty is too often disrupted by the ear-splitting sound of gas-powered leaf blowers. Every morning, landscaping companies deploy these gigantic beasts across the city, strapped to workers’ backs like dystopian World War II-era flame-throwers. The enemies are Atlanta’s leaves, and the leaf-blowers are determined to disrupt office Zoom calls, infants’ naps, and the peace and tranquility of your home.”

Nevitt describes the environmental and climate impacts of gas-powered leaf blowers as “horrific,” noting they rely on a combustible mix of oil and gas and that “a typical leaf blower reportedly burns just 60% of its fuel — the rest is spewed into the atmosphere.”

Nevitt noted that in 2011,“engineers at the car company Edmunds estimated that driving a Ford F-150 Raptor truck from Texas to Alaska would emit the same amount of air pollution as a mere half-hour of yard work with a two-stroke, gas-powered leaf blower. Indeed, Edmunds estimated that some gas leaf-blowers generate 23 times the carbon dioxide of the Raptor and 300 times more non-methane hydrocarbons.”

“Worse yet,” he reports, “gas-powered leaf blowers also emit nitrous oxide. He cites the EPA as estimating the impact of one pound of nitrous oxide on warming the atmosphere is almost 300 times that of an equivalent pound of carbon dioxide.

Nevitt stated that gas-powered leaf blowers are really loud and that some gas-powered leaf blowers “generate a roar at 100 decibels, the same noise level as a passenger jet taking off. “And it is not just the decibel level — the kind of noise is particularly pernicious,” he writes. “Leaf blowers operate at a low frequency, penetrating concrete walls and the inner sanctum of homes with ease.”

He also reports that according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, gas-powered lawn care has been linked to debilitating health issues including cancer, asthma, heart disease and hearing loss, and that workers who are exposed to the air pollution and noise from leaf blowers at close range over sustained periods of time are particularly vulnerable.

Nevitt notes that the health impacts of leaf blowers also pose equity issues and that low-wage workers suffer the most. “Tragically, they are almost assured to develop hearing issues if they are exposed to this mechanical madness on a daily basis,” he writes.

Nevitt also reports that, thankfully, more than 100 cities and towns across the country have banned or restricted the use of gas-powered leaf blowers, and California will be phasing out gas-powered leaf blowers after it discovered that gas leaf blowers and related lawn care equipment “emit more ozone pollution than all of California’s tens of millions of cars — combined.”

Although Nevitt admits there may be a modest upfront cost to make the transition to electric, companies can manage these costs if bans are phased in over a few years or adopted with tax credits to help offset the transition — a successful strategy, he says, in some jurisdictions. But “any costs, real or perceived,” he argues, “must be balanced against the noise pollution, environmental impacts, and health costs that continue from prolonged delay.”

Finally, I was very moved by the following paragraph I found on the grist.com website:

“For more than 100 million years, trees have dropped their leaves every fall, creating a protective layer of duff that provides cover for snails, bees, and butterflies. Decaying leaves fertilized the soil and gave nutrients back to the trees. Today, fallen leaves still provide a harvest festival of benefits — unless they get blasted into oblivion with a leaf blower.”

Isn’t it time we here in western Massachusetts towns, and elsewhere, phased out and eventually banned gas-powered leaf blowers?

Randy Kehler lives in Shelburne Falls.